Posts by Mihai

Share your 2024 tech forecasts (wrong answers only) to win a terrible sweater

I forecast that next Windows patch will solve all of Windows’ security issues so it will be the last patch. Also at the end of October 2024 Microsoft Office will be licensed as open source and its code will be published.

If you're a WhatsApp user, you'll have to share your personal data with Facebook's empire from next month – or stop using the chat app

Re: disclose my contact list? Without the contact's permission?

Can person b request WhatsApp to delete any information given by third parties and related to person b?

Re: Contacts

“ When WA went e2e encryption, FB quietly changed things behind the scenes so that FB and WA shared the same sandbox on your device”. Does IOS allows this?

Re: Contacts

Will all the people which have your number in the contacts also deny access?

Re: Problem is.....

At least we gain some time to train the carrier pigeons.

I sniff a rodent.

Quote from the article “ If users engage with businesses via the app, details such as shipping addresses and the amount of money spent on orders may be passed to Facebook, too.”

Either I don’t understand the meaning of end to end encryption or the author doesn’t (or WhatsApp redefines it).

How can whatsapp know which address I sent to a merchant if the message was end to end encrypted?

Can someone explain which data WhatsApp will share and how they’ll get that data?

And btw try to understand that lawyerish “Facebook won’t receive WhatsApp data” may just translate to “we send the advertising data to WhatsApp and they’ll do the targeting since we’re the same company after all. But the server targeting the ads will be in a room across the corridor marked WhatsApp, so we will never, never get WhatsApp data to match it with Facebook data on our servers.”

Good luck deleting someone's private info from a trained neural network – it's likely to bork the whole thing

My 1.5 cents

Imagine a neural network trained on 1000 identical data points.

Deleting the result of 1 data point is fairly easy - the algorithm will likely decide nothing is impacted and the network will remain the same.

So handling 1000 separate requests for deletion will leave the network as it is although the whole input dataset should have been removed.

Have a feeling that this encourages the “grab all and see later” approach.

Google will laugh all the way to the bank showing you that all deletion requests have been fulfilled...

Tinfoil hat brigade switches brand allegiance to bog paper

Corona hits 2020 - for german speakers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPpfLiIODRk

Vodafone: Yes, we slurp data on customers' network setups, but we do it for their own good

Sql names

Anyone with Vodafone adds a server name to drop their database? Just sayin...

Samsung Galaxy S8+: Seriously. What were they thinking?

The TRONC challenge

How 'bout you guys come with a topic and we try to make a script about the topic that beats TRONC and really delivers it to the users.

Then you can choose 2 of your best editors/journalists/etc... to deliver a nice Youtube clip.

You can make it as a competition.

I propose the first rules:

- the final clip should be 1:30 - 3:00 minutes long

- the script should be to the point and clearly relevant to the topic

- someone not knowing the topic must not be able to guess it (except if lucky) by looking at the first half of the clip

If you wanna do this I trust you will be able to add an appropriate prize for the winner. My proposal for the prize would be golden, silver and bronze bollocks for the winner and next 2.

ZX Spectrum Vega+ will ship on time, developer claims amid doubts

Definition "estimated"

Be fair to them!

On indiegogo it says "estimated" September 2016.

"Estimated" means +- 1 year. Unless it is +- 2 years.

Seagate soups up M.2 Nytro flash card

Simple arithmetic

7w x 30000 IOPS/w = 210000 IOPS

It is 270000 only in marketing.

Don't – don't – install iOS 9.3 on your iPad 2: Upgrade bricks slabs

Worked for me

Upgraded this morning before reading the article. Had space on it so iOS already on iPad when upgrade started. Took more that half an hour in total.

Works, same speed as before (slow).

Why the smart-asses at Apple decided to change some of the config settings to new defaults (Cloud is ON after the update) I don't understand. They say they're not in the business of monetizing our data but they behave as it they were.

So no issues until now.

PS: direct upgrade, not via iTunes.

WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

The piezoelectric crystals allow for jiggle powered wearable devices

And this is the top of the line model with a 4k nipple fish eye lens camera.

And this VR accessory will allow you to choose an NPC and open a whole new way of playing GTA 5.

It will inflate and help non-bulgarian drivers to overcome the handicap in case the sensors detect a sudden stop.

And then the PFY made me wear this...

Remote counselling

Our sensors show you don't spend enough time in this area...

WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

Marketing poster:

Buy windows Defender - Meerkat edition. (Big fonts)

Best protection for OUR logs of YOUR private data! (Small Print)

Fess up: which one of you Galaxies made all that gas?

And then correct the correction of the correction

One billion instead of one hundred billion is "an order of magnitude" ? C'mon sons :)

PETA riled by Mario's raccoon skin suit

Ethnic treatment of Animals

White bears allowed, black bears not ? :D

BTW - tons of results on Google for this misspelling.

And same misspelling on http://www.computerandvideogames.com/326059/peta-frowns-at-marios-use-of-tanooki-fur/ which cites Kotaku as a source. No misspelling at Kotaku.

Maybe you should mention your sources :)))

UFO fleet menaces east London

How 'bout a flag instead of an UFO ?

The white color around the "UFO's" is different from the clouds and flag-shaped. They also appear pretty close to what can be a mast...